upholstery: can it be steam cleaned? how remove front bench skin??

[greg w]

the upholstery on the doors of my 63sdv has stains and i'm wondering if a steam device would get the stains out and renew the look - what would detailers use?? Don't wanna wreck the cloth upholstery.

Also, the front bench has vertical tears in the cloth and leather is holding ok.  i know where to get replacement cloth.  Is the bench upholstery a skin you can peel off, replace the foam and redo the fabric then slip the whloe thing back on??  what have you guys done before that would be helpful for such a project?  thanks.

[GoManGo1946]

I had the same question. I will be following this thread.

[Alan Harris CLC#1513]

I have always had good luck with a foaming product called Blue Coral Dri Clean. It has to be a lot more gentle on your door panels than steam cleaning. Always try the least agressive method first.

Any good upholsterer can remove your seat cover, do an insert of new cloth, and then put the cover back on. Start asking local people for recommendations. Good Luck

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

G'day Greg,

The upholstery covering is easy to remove, and replacement is a little bit more tedious.

To remove, you will need a good pair of side cutters to remove the "Hog Rings" without damaging the attaching pieces.

To re-attach, you will need a set of Hog Ring pliers, and a good number of Hog Rings.

Here are some pictures of a front seat from a '69 that I had to rebuild the collapsed foam and hessian.

Bruce.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

As you can see, the foam was rotten, but not all the way through, and the supporting Hessian was just worn out.

Bruce.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

I carefully "Milled" out the rotten layer to an even depth, and obtained some foam sheeting of similar density and glued it into place with Contact Cement.

Bruce.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Then I replaced the Hessian, carefully re-using the old wire reinforcing.

With repairing the splits in the actual upholstery cover, that is best left to a person with a professional Upholstery Sewing Machine, and they can simply unpick the seams where necessary, re-install replacement material, and then reinforce the area to protect it and stop the same thing happening again.

Bruce.

[greg w]

thanks Bruce.  on the bucket seat the skin removal looks straightforward by removing the rings.  Would the rings only be on the underside of bench frame ?  Where else would you expect to see these rings ? ie for the back?

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

G'day Greg,

A Bench Seat is just the same as a Bucket Seat, albeit a lot bigger seat.

With the seat in the pictures, it was a seat out of a '69 Sedan deVille, and as such, wasn't a folding back type, even though it did have the folding bit in place, but was bolted securely so that it couldn't fold up until some disassembling took place.

With a Bench Seat, the base and back upholstery are still held in place with Hog Rings, and there are some attachments within the centres of the padding line to retain the shape as built in by the designers, and with a lot of careful undoing, and not rushing things, you will find just where each clip is.

But, don't forget to take pictures as you go, because, some day, when reassembling, you WILL need them as the memory fares.

The good thing about doing a larger seat is that the bigger they are, the easier they are to work with.

Bucket Seats are awkward to fiddle with to try and get the coverings to stretch enough, whereas the Bench Seat has more material to stretch and massage into place.

Bruce.

PS.  I am not a professional, just self-taught, so if I can teach myself, then anyone can do it..